LAKES. 97 



to the Baltic, and no more than 7G feet above the sea, is the only meraber of 

 the hirge lake system whose bed stands higher than sea-level, its greatest depth 

 being 60 feet. Thus it might be completely drained into Malar by deepening the 

 junction canal, and woi-ks have alreadj^ been undertaken to reduce its level 6 or 

 7 feet, and to regulate its outflow by means of a dam, allowing a discharge of 

 400 cubic yards per second if necessary. Thanks to these works, thousands of acres 

 will be preserved from further floodings. 



Lake Miliar itself is not yet entirely cut off from the sea. One of its 

 extremities is still a gulf, and when the east wind arrests the outflow, a marine 

 current, the Hpp.y'ô, conveys a small quantity of salt water to the eastern portion 

 of the lake. With its numerous channels and thirteen hundred islands, islets, or 

 reefs, this inland sea must be regarded, not as a single sheet of water, but as an 

 aggregate of separate basins, each at a slightly diflerent level from the rest. In fact, 

 it consists of four sections, disposed from west to east at successively lower levels. 

 The Koping, or upper basin, has a mean altitude 'of 2 feet 5 inches above the 

 Baltic ; the second, consisting of the "SYesteras fiords, falls to 2 feet ; the Bjork- 

 fjard, or third, to 1 foot 6 inches ; while the Pdddarfjard, or easternmost section, 

 at Stockholm, is about 1 foot above the Baltic. The various basins were formerly 

 separated by shingly âsar, which were swept away by the pressure of the waters, 

 thus converting the labyrinth of creeks into a united body of water. A rapid 

 current, regidated by a sluice, sets constantly from Miilar to the sea under the 

 Stockholm bridges. 



Besides the South Swedish lacustrine basins there are in the rest of Scandinavia 

 thirty-five lakes, each with an area of over 40 square miles, and many larger than 

 Hjelmar itself. Such are those whence flow the chief Baltic streams — the Torneil 

 Triisk, the Lulea Jaur, Stor Afvan, Swedish Storsjo, and Siljan, " blue eye of 

 Dalecarlia." But most of these remote lakes have been but partially explored, 

 and their depth is still unknown. The IMjosen (140 square miles), however, the 

 largest in Norway, thanks to its proximity to Christiania, has been carefully 

 studied, and found to have an extreme depth of 1,480 feet, with an altitude of 

 397, its bed thus lying about 1,080 feet below the sea-level. 



In winter all the Scandinavian lakes are ice-bound for one hundred to two 

 hundred days, according to the latitude and the severity of the season. But the 

 stagnant waters, and even the shallow lakelets, seldom freeze to the bottom. Soon 

 after the formation of the first icy mantle, the heavy snows generally protect the 

 lower waters from the frost, and thus keep the fish alive. Long fissures 

 are oj)ened here and there in +he frozen surface, leaving the air to penetrate 

 below. 



Like the fiords, the lakes are distinguished by their geometrical disposition. 

 Many follow in succession along one deep trough, while others cross each other at 

 sharp angles, grouping themselves into figures of divers forms. Thus in the 

 south-west corner of Norway they enclose triangular spaces ; in Telemark they form 

 an eccentric polygon, in which the direction of indentation is represented by a 

 rand, or lakelet of pure water. 

 151 



